An interview with Kiran Channa - Associate Director of Pharmacy Clinical Services, University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust

Please could you start by telling us a bit about your career and journey so far?

Currently I work at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) as one of the Associate Directors of Pharmacy. My role is to lead clinical services and support our team to collectively create the best environment to work in. To me this means an environment with efficient processes and space for growth and individual development. My journey has always been in hospital and never really knowing where I wanted to specialise. I based my career in the admissions environment and loved it! My dream job was always one where I was always busy, and the time flew. After this, I worked with community teams to by completing medication reviews with patients at home. This led me to undertake a doctorate; what I found was there was not a lot of evidence to support me to undertake medication reviews. At this time I was lucky enough to have my own role model who encouraged me to create the evidence myself.

 What are you most proud of?

I am most proud of my decision to undertake my doctorate, it has really challenge my perspectives. During my doctorate I found a real passion for leadership and workforce. The modules that I undertook really enlightened me to the level of responsibility we hold as leaders and additionally the level of impact we can have on others. Every day I use this lens to challenge myself with this question; who and how am I impacting others?

What has been one of your biggest professional challenges and how did you overcome it?

I think many people will resonate with me that COVID-19 was a challenge. When the pandemic broke out, there were so many decisions and so much change. This was difficult as I had never had to change so much at pace and being a leader in this space was at times isolating. However, the only way to manage this challenge was to recognise that I could not do it all; I was surrounded by a team of fantastic people who stood by my side. At the time I saw leadership thriving in so many colleagues and I am so immensely proud to have worked with the team that I did. 

What piece of advice would you give your younger self?

To my younger self I would remind her that nobody is you and trying to build yourself into what you think others want, is useless to you. Your greatest power lies in your authenticity, honesty and true self. The more of this space that you occupy the easier it is to grow. Lean into you and be your best self.

 

What is something you would like others to know? For example, a piece of advice you would like to give women that are at the start of their pharmacy career.

Trust the process – this has become a really clear theme, even when things have felt like they haven’t worked out. I can say with honesty that even the difficult moments have provided me with some of the most valuable lessons. Sometimes when a job I applied for has not worked out, I know that life is going to happen for me differently. My responsibility to me is to just keep going. Only in the future do you get to see the master plan – so just wait and see.